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Comment by TiredOfLife

12 hours ago

Cookie and biscuit are two different things. Which two depends on country, but still two different things

The point is what in the Uk is called a biscuit in the US is called a cookie. Similarly for the other pairings.

  • This sense of biscuit persisted in US English for a long time. The National Biscuit Company (makers of oreos and fig newtons) only changed its name to Nabisco in 1931. The Kennedy Biscuit Company was subsumed by the New York Biscuit Company which merged with the American Biscuit Company to form the National Biscuit Company in 1898. Closes Wikipedia

  • Cookies in the UK are a subset of biscuits, but not all biscuits are cookies. Do you not have any other types of biscuits (using the UK term) in the US?

    • In my YouTube perusal, Can We Identify Every Biscuit/Cookie?! | Sorted Food https://youtu.be/qpY_LTxOG78 (its from the British perspective)

      As an American, nearly everything on that table is a cookie or dessert bar. Shortbread and brownies are desert bars. The "water biscuit" is a cracker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_biscuit .

      The biscuit of American cuisine doesn't exist in British cuisine. British Highschoolers Try Biscuits and Gravy for the First Time https://youtu.be/KzdbFnv4yWQ

      If you don't have Bisquick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisquick - American flour plus extras base - biscuits with it are 3 parts Bisquick to 1 part milk; bake at 230 °C for 10-13 minutes)...

      1.5 cups (190g) flour, 2 teaspoons packing powder, 4 oz (115g) butter (possibly add salt depending on the saltiness of the butter), 3/4 cup (180 ml) milk. This recipe puts it at 200 °C for 15-20 minutes.

      That's the only thing that is a biscuit in the US. There are some variations depending on what you add to it (Red Lobster's cheddar biscuits for example)... or buttermilk instead of whole milk, or sweet potatoes instead of flour (from a shortage of flour during the civil war).

    • No, a biscuit in the US almost universally narrowly refers to a flaky, buttery, savory pastry typically eaten at breakfast, either with a sweet jam or a savory sausage gravy.

      “Biscuit” is not a category of foods in the US, while “cookie” is absolutely a category of desert with many different kinds.

      If you ask for a biscuit here, you’ll get the same thing every time. If you ask for a cookie, you’ll be asked “what kind?”